The New Dynamics of China’s BRI

After a decade of success, everything is changing

When President Xi Jinping unveiled the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a decade ago, the entire world lined up to join. At that time, everybody wanted to romance China. Even strongholds of the West, like Italy, leaped at the opportunity to integrate deeper with a new Chinese geoeconomic order. In those beginning stages, BRI had all the limelight—and fears or questions about China failed to tarnish or slow the rise of the multi-trillion dollar connectivity plan.

For many, China’s BRI seemed completely separate from geopolitics. It was all about connectivity and development, and concerns, like debt-trap diplomacy, would only materialize down the road. Since BRI was launched, China-BRI trade has passed a staggering $19.1 trillion, meaning in the last decade, BRI has facilitated trade larger than the GDP of the EU.

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